What are a CEOs Top Concerns?

Over on e-Sourcing Forum, Blaine Mathieu, CEO of Selectica, penned a post on the CEO’s Top Three Concerns and How CLM Can Help. CLM (contract Lifecycle Management) and SLM (Sourcing Lifecycle Management) can definitely help with these concerns, but are these really the top three concerns of the CEO, or are they the concerns that should be the top three?

The reality is that the top three concerns of any CEO are:

  • Profit
    We all know that at the end of the day all the Board really cares about is lining the pockets of the shareholders that they answer to. That’s it.
  • Economic Collapse
    Profit requires revenue and revenue requires a reasonably strong economy where consumers are willing to spend.
  • Supply Chain Disruption
    While the reality is that the average CEO doesn’t give a rodent’s behind about the supply chain, because that’s the head of Procurement’s problem, the last thing an average CEO wants to hear about is a disruption that is going to result in a stock-out and lost revenue. The Board won’t be happy, and the CEO’s job could be on the line.

Even though the top-three concerns should be:

  • Value Generation
    Continued profit relies on continued revenue which relies on continued customer demand which requires that customers continue to see value in the products and services the companies offer.
  • Global Expansion
    Individual economies wax and wane, and sometimes connected economies surge and fall with them, but, generally speaking, the economies of entire zones or continents don’t collapse at once.
  • Supply Assurance
    No supply, no product. No product, no fulfillment. No fulfillment, no revenue, even if the organization could provide value to the customer.

As part of these concerns, the CEO should be helping the CPO with:

  • Cost Avoidance
    Forget savings. They are ephemeral and temporary. But reducing demand and avoiding unnecessary cost is permanent.
  • Innovation
    Value requires continued delivery of better products and services, which will often only be identified through innovation.
  • Compliance
    A big part of supply assurance is making sure all local and foreign laws, import and export requirements, and industry regulations are met so that the company isn’t faced with unnecessary disruptions, lawsuits, or government interventions.

which, while not the CEO’s top three concerns, are the top three concerns the CEO should share with the CPO.